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When Authors Take Risks, That’s Not Kid Stuff

Patricia McCormick is the author of young adult books that deal with stark topics, including "Sold,'' about child sex slavery, and the forthcoming "Never Fall Down,'' about growing up under the Khmer Rouge.

Updated March 29, 2012, 1:27 AM

If "Harry Potter" made it safe for grown-ups to read kids’ books, "The Hunger Games" has made it cool.

Young adult authors are doing some of the most daring work out there, taking creative risks – with narrative structure, voice and social commentary.

Why are so many adults reading young adult books? No need to page Dr. Freud. This isn’t about the guilty pleasures of communing with one’s inner child. It doesn’t signify a huge baby boomer regression. It isn’t even about nostalgia.

It’s because adults are discovering one of publishing’s best-kept secrets: that young adult authors are doing some of the most daring work out there. Authors who write for young adults are taking creative risks -- with narrative structure, voice and social commentary -- that you just don’t see as often in the more rarefied world of adult fiction.

For a young adult audience, authors have to be at the top of our game. Were competing with Facebook and smartphones, DVRs and iPods -- not to mention SATs and extracurriculars. We have to capture and hold our readers’ (limited) attention on Page 1 and sustain it until the end. Young adults are willing to accompany an author just about anywhere -- to a dystopian future or the ancient past -- but they will not tolerate anything extraneous or self indulgent.

We may not yet be getting the big advances that our "grown-up" counterparts earn. But our rewards are in our in-boxes: blunt, heartfelt, often misspelled e-mails from kids who tell you exactly what they think.

“U write prtty good violence for a girl,” said one reader. Another: “Keep it up. U r not as lame as some people.”